B.C. Certifieation

(Continued from page 52)

Endorsement of Certification schemes (PEFC), so companies with forests certified to the CSA standard can use the recognized PEFC label in markets worldwide, including Europe.

CSA uses a continual improvement approach and requires public participation, practical demonstration of sustainable forest management practices. and management commitment. Companies must respect 17 national CSA elements for SFM at the local level, setting values, objectives and targets for each through a rigorous public participation process.

CSA offers a chain-of-custody audit as well as a Forest Products Marking Program so retailers, manufacturers, homebuilders and consumers can identify products that come from forests certified to the CSA standard.

SFI @ww.aboutsfi.org)

With l 1.9 million hectares certified under SFI, it is the largest certification system by land base in B.C. as well as in North America. An independent Sustainable Forestry Board (SFB) oversees development and continuous improvement of the standards. The SFB has 15 members, of which 10 are from a wide range of non-industry interests, including environmental organizations and professional and academic groups.

SFI is a comprehensive system of principles, objectives, performance measures and core indicators, which integrate the perpetual growing and harvesting of trees with the protection of wildlife, plants, soil, water and air quality. SFI offers a certified procurement system audit as well as an onproduct label option for use by thirdparty certified program participants that meets FTC guidelines for environmental claims. SFI is also a member of PEFC and intends to submit its standard for endorsement.

FSC @ww.fsc.org)

Availability of FSC-certified product from B.C. remains limited. B.C. has 100,291 hectares certified under the FSC's regional standard, which has preliminary approval from FSC International. Until there is final approval, FSC accredited auditors certify forests using either checklists consistent with FSC principles and criteria or the preliminary standard.

FSC is an international non-profit group founded in 1993 to support environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable forest management. Its 10 overarching forest management principles and 56 criteria apply to tropical, temperate and boreal forests, and are used as a guiding framework for regional standards that are developed to reflect local ecological. social and economic factors.

To carry the FSC label, a product must be verified as coming from a certified well-managed forest through a chain-of-custody certification and by meeting the FSC's percentage-based claims requirements.

Customers of B.C. forest Products have the added confidence of knowing that certification is not a substitute for government regulation, but rather an added assurance. A recent independent review found that B.C. takes a stringent approach to forest policy regulation, and is among the top of the 38 jurisdictions studied. These policies are backed by enforcement and the independent Forest Practices Board, which monitors both industry and government actions.

Calilornia Needs Logging

Despite a rise of 2.57o in the amount of wood harvested in California-and a nearly l2Vo increase in the value of the woodnearly 70Vo of the wood used in the state is imported.

"California contilues to imPort vast amounts of wood each Year, despite the abundant forests here in our own state." said Donn Zea, California Forest Products Commission. "Forests in countries where there is little or no environmental protection are harmed."

"People recognize Californiagrown wood as being both high quality and grown in an environmentally responsible way," said Zea, but appeals and legal challenges are slowing needed harvests on publicly owned lands. He added that many publicly owned forestlands are "overgrown, unhealthY and in danger of fueling catastrophic wildfires."

California is making it increasingly difficult for forestland owners to manage their lands and succeed as a business, he said. "The choice is simple: do we encourage sustainable forestry that will allow us to keep our forestland or do we drive families out of the business and convert forestlands to other uses?"